October 3, 2025 — 6:15 pm

Chapter 97: A False Dawn

Freeloading off the painting “Autumn Sky” left Chen Feng feeling very comfortable in both body and mind.

Afterward, Chen Feng peacefully accompanied Wu Mengting to browse the other exhibition halls in the art gallery.

The two didn’t leave the art gallery until it was almost closing time.

After dropping Wu Mengting home, before she got out of the car, she thanked him very politely, “Thank you for taking me to see the exhibition. I enjoyed it very much. We can go again next time we have a chance.”

“Okay, no problem.”

Spending time with Wu Mengting was very pleasant for both body and mind.

Because, to be honest, Chen Feng definitely had a good impression of a young, beautiful, and gentle girl like her. Men were generally the same; they all liked young and beautiful girls.

Chen Feng was no exception.

It was just that for the time being, he had to go and “freeload” off the painting every day, so it wasn’t convenient to bring her along.

For the next few days, Chen Feng reported to the provincial art gallery every day, either in the morning or in the afternoon, every single day.

But what made Chen Feng feel that things were less than perfect was that after his fifth visit, the painting “Autumn Sky” could no longer put him in a “trance” or bring him that comfortable feeling.

In fact, starting from the second time, the benefits this painting brought him were constantly diminishing. The first time, it could last for half an hour; the second time, it was only about twenty minutes; the third time, less than ten minutes; the fourth time, probably only five or six minutes. Its stamina was getting worse and worse. By the fifth time, it was completely limp…

Not durable at all!

Chen Feng was a little helpless about this, but since it was a freebie, he couldn’t say that this work by Song Yi was far inferior to Master Wang Yi’s.

The “Orchid Pavilion Preface” had engrossed him for nearly two hours the first time, while this “Autumn Sky” only lasted for half an hour. That was a four-fold difference.

After the fifth failed attempt at freeloading, Chen Feng, for the first time, seriously and carefully appreciated the painting. Although he didn’t understand painting, he had figured out some principles over the past few days.

That is, any work of calligraphy or painting that could put him in a trance must be a good work, the crystallization of the artist’s heart and wisdom. And compared to their other works that couldn’t put him in a trance, it must be even better.

Perhaps it was a psychological effect, but now, as Chen Feng carefully examined “Autumn Sky,” he felt it wasn’t as attractive as when he first saw it.

If you just looked at the surface, the painting hadn’t changed at all.

But Chen Feng knew that he had absorbed something intrinsic from the painting.

These past few days, he had been pondering his “trances” and the gratifying changes they brought to his body and mind.

He felt that the reason he entered a “trance,” that dizzy state, was probably related to him absorbing some kind of invisible energy from the calligraphy and painting. Or perhaps his body’s magnetic field and the magnetic fields of these two magical artworks were attracting each other, thus forming a kind of magnetic resonance.

In short, with the two interacting like this, Chen Feng was definitely the beneficiary.

If the painting “Autumn Sky” had its inner, inexplicable energy absorbed by him, thus causing the painting to lose a certain “essence” and affecting its artistic and commercial value, Chen Feng would genuinely feel a little guilty.

He had been an honest person since he was a child and never liked to take advantage of others. Now that he had taken such a big advantage, he felt a little uneasy.

So, after returning home, Chen Feng still called Song Yi’s agent, Lehman.

Chen Feng very sincerely stated that he was willing to pay 4 million for the painting, which was equivalent to about 600,000 US dollars.

But Lehman only hesitated for a moment before rejecting Chen Feng’s offer.

Chen Feng was also very helpless about this. He really didn’t want to freeload, but the other party’s asking price was too high.

After this call, Chen Feng felt at ease. He had given the other party a chance, he really didn’t want to take advantage of them, but since the other party had rejected an offer of nearly 600,000 US dollars, there was nothing he could do.

Back at the East Lake villa, Chen Feng stared at the “Orchid Pavilion Preface,” and as expected, he couldn’t enter a trance.

It wasn’t that the “Orchid Pavilion Preface” had been drained by him, but that he could only enter a trance once a day.

After that, he had to wait until the next day.

At least, that was the situation based on Chen Feng’s daily experiments so far.

The painting “Autumn Sky” was now useless, and the “Orchid Pavilion Preface” at home was also on the verge of becoming useless. The last time he stared at it at home, he only maintained the trance for about ten minutes.

If he tried it once or twice more, it probably wouldn’t have any effect.

Therefore, Chen Feng urgently needed to find the next one.

Director Huang from the provincial art gallery had helped introduce him to many artists. In the past few days, Chen Feng had also visited several artists living in the city, including three calligraphers and five painters.

Chen Feng had visited them all and looked at their works, but unfortunately, none of their works met his requirements.

Of course, Chen Feng was a little disappointed by this.

But he still had to make the visits. He was about to run out of “food.”

However, before running out of food, Chen Feng felt that he should go to the hospital for another check-up.

After all, his physical condition had been surprisingly good these past few days. Xiao Ya, who lived with him, was even a little afraid of him.

He faintly hoped for a miracle of his terminal illness improving, but he was also afraid of being disappointed again.

So, he had been putting it off for the past few days.

But Chen Feng knew that he had to have a relatively clear result.

Otherwise, he would be even more conflicted inside.

So, that afternoon, Chen Feng went to the best hospital in the province.

He spent money to get an expert’s appointment and then went through a series of routine check-ups.

He once again saw the sympathetic look in the expert doctor’s eyes.

Chen Feng asked directly, “Doctor, are there any signs of improvement in my brain tumor?”

The doctor said in a gentle tone, “Your situation is quite complex. I’ve looked at your previous medical records. How should I put it… this kind of illness… is basically treated conservatively. At your current stage, you will experience symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and fainting. In severe cases, you will experience vision loss, hearing loss, and hemiplegia…”

Chen Feng interrupted him impatiently, “I know all this. Just tell me, compared to before, has my situation improved according to the brain CT scan?”

The doctor had a very good attitude and was not at all angry that Chen Feng’s tone was not good and that he had interrupted him. He still said in a gentle tone, “This… there should be a little bit of improvement. As long as you relax, eat healthily, and fight the disease with optimism, there will definitely be a little bit of improvement…”

Chen Feng frowned instantly and asked unhappily, “Are you saying there’s no improvement?”

The doctor smiled a little awkwardly, but finally nodded. “Yes, there’s basically no change, but it hasn’t worsened either, which is a good sign. Although I’m not willing to say that a miracle will happen, I still sincerely wish you the best.”

This doctor’s attitude was impeccable, but Chen Feng was quite depressed after hearing his words.

He had originally thought that his body was getting better after absorbing the energy from the two pieces of calligraphy and painting every day for the past few days, and that his brain tumor might have improved.

But now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

This was really damn frustrating!

Wasn’t his body clearly very good right now?

“Then why do I feel that my body is very healthy now, and there are no problems in all aspects? I don’t have symptoms like headaches, dizziness, nausea, or vomiting either.”

The doctor looked at his examination report and nodded slightly. “Your other physical indicators are indeed quite good, except for your brain. As for not having the expected symptoms, this needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Some patients don’t have them. Although it’s rare, it does exist. You may be one of the more special cases.”

Chen Feng left the hospital in a hurry with a gloomy face!

This damn hospital! If I ever come back, I’m a dog.

Not only was it a false dawn, but he had also suffered another fatal psychological blow.

Being sentenced to death again by the doctor, this feeling was really not good.

Back at the East Lake villa, Chen Feng just lay on the bed like a corpse, not even wanting to eat dinner.

When he was terminally ill and then divorced, he had been in despair, thinking that if he died, he died. But now, he was reluctant to die.

Because he now had a car, a house, and women, two of them. He was living a good life, who the hell would want to die.

His phone dinged and donged, it was the WeChat notification sound.

But Chen Feng was too lazy to look.

After a while, the phone rang. Chen Feng reluctantly reached for his phone and looked at it. It was Xiao Ya.

He answered, and Chen Feng said weakly, “I have something on tonight, I’m not coming back.”

“Ah, you’re not coming back?”

Xiao Ya was a little surprised and also a little secretly pleased.

These past few days, Chen Feng had been dragging her to play games with him every day, leaving her exhausted. She was really a little afraid.

“Yeah. If there’s nothing else, let’s leave it at that.” Chen Feng was not in the mood to chat with her now.

“Wait. Are you coming home tomorrow then?”

“We’ll see.”

“Oh, then… where are you now?”

Xiao Ya couldn’t help but ask.

After spending these days together, Xiao Ya had more or less developed feelings for Chen Feng. It was impossible for her to be completely indifferent to him not coming home at night.

But when Chen Feng heard her ask this, he became a little impatient and said directly, “I’m at my girlfriend’s place. I’ll come find you when I have time in the future.”

“…Oh, your girlfriend is back? Okay…”

Before she could say goodbye, Chen Feng had already hung up the phone.

Xiao Ya was just a substitute, after all. Chen Feng was in a bad mood now, and it was already quite good of him to have the patience to say so much to her.

Xiao Ya, however, didn’t know Chen Feng’s mood at this time. Seeing that Chen Feng had just hung up on her, she sat there holding her phone for a long time, and finally could only sigh gloomily before pulling herself together.

Just as Chen Feng hung up on Xiao Ya, as if by arrangement, Lin Wan called him right after.

He wanted to not answer, but in the end, he did.

“What is it?” Chen Feng asked directly.

Lin Wan answered directly, “It’s my birthday tomorrow. I’m treating everyone to dinner in the evening. You must come.”

Since they were friends, and especially since she was Wu Mengting’s best friend, Chen Feng could only muster a little energy and say, “Then why didn’t you say so earlier? You only gave me one day, how am I supposed to buy you a birthday present?”

Lin Wan was happy to hear this and said, “It doesn’t matter what the birthday present is. Of course, as long as it’s expensive. If you really don’t know what to buy, you can just give me a red envelope.”

“Alright then. I’ll just send you a red envelope on WeChat. The maximum is 200, so I’ll send you a 200 red envelope.”

“Go away! How dare you. The maximum for one red envelope is 200, but you can send me 8, or 10. If you find it troublesome, you can just transfer the money to me directly, I’ll take it as a red envelope, I don’t mind.”

“I mind.”

“Alright. If you have the nerve, you can just give me a greeting card. I’ve invited two other friends for tomorrow night. They’re both beauties.”

“Then I won’t go. If it were just Mengting, I wouldn’t mind. But if you add two more women, it would feel a bit awkward for me to be the only man there.”

“You’re really being coy. The four of us women don’t mind, what do you mind? You get to have a birthday dinner with four beautiful women, you should be secretly happy.”

Chen Feng thought for a moment and said, “How about this. I’ll pay to treat you all to a meal at Fumanlou. It’ll save you the trouble of buying groceries and cooking.”

“Fumanlou? I heard a meal there costs several thousand to ten thousand. How can I accept?”

“Don’t you always think I’m very rich? Do I care about a meal that costs a few thousand or ten thousand?”

“Hehe, that’s true. Then thank you very much.”

“Okay. You inform Mengting and your two friends. If there’s nothing else, let’s leave it at that.”

“Ah, okay.”

Chen Feng didn’t exchange any more pleasantries and hung up the phone directly.

However, after chatting with Lin Wan like this, his mood did improve a little.

Looking at the time, it was past seven in the evening, and the sky was completely dark.

He got up from the bed, went downstairs to the kitchen, and casually cooked a bowl of frozen dumplings to eat. Then he sat in the living room, turned on the TV, and stared blankly.

Ding-dong, the WeChat notification sound rang. He picked up his phone and saw that it was from Wu Mengting.

She was asking when the birthday banquet at Fumanlou was scheduled for tomorrow.

This was clearly something Lin Wan was too embarrassed to ask, so she had her ask.

Chen Feng replied: [Tomorrow night, I’ll tell you the specific time later]

After replying, Chen Feng found the reservation number for Fumanlou and called to make a reservation.

He was very lucky. There was still a private room available after seven o’clock tomorrow night.

So, Chen Feng booked it and then informed Wu Mengting.

Wu Mengting sent back an “OK” and a winking cute emoji, which made Chen Feng’s mood improve a little more.

Being friends with these two beautiful women was, after all, a happy thing.

Chen Feng picked up his phone, opened the reading app, and leaned back on the sofa to read Wu Mengting’s “The Golden Hairpin Bond.”

This kind of female-oriented ancient romance novel, as Chen Feng read on, he actually slowly got into it.

He had to say, Wu Mengting’s skill in writing novels was quite good.

That night, Chen Feng finished the rest of “The Golden Hairpin Bond” in one go.

Her book wasn’t actually that long, only a little over 1.2 million words. Compared to male-oriented novels that often had millions of words, it was nothing.

After finishing “The Golden Hairpin Bond,” Chen Feng’s good impression of Wu Mengting increased by a few more points.

A woman like her could enter the kitchen and grace the living room, she could also write novels, was talented, could make money, was beautiful, had a gentle personality, and was from his hometown. She was truly impeccable.

If it weren’t for this damn brain tumor, Chen Feng really wanted to win her over.

He had thought his condition was improving these past few days, but it turned out to be a false dawn. It was also destined that he and Wu Mengting would have a fateful encounter but no future together in this life.

Perhaps this was the main reason, and it had dealt him a huge psychological blow.